


Carson series - Car Crash, Magic, Hypothermia

by writehard_whumpharder



Category: Original Work
Genre: Car Accident, Carson Hall - Freeform, Carson series, Daniel Hopkins - Freeform, Daniel's little brother Jason, Hospital, Hurt, Hypothermia, Impaled, Injury, Magical Exhaustion, Original Characters - Freeform, Whump, car crash, magical healing, medical whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:42:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24416077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writehard_whumpharder/pseuds/writehard_whumpharder
Summary: Carson tags along with Danny and his brother when they have to go pick up some books for their family's shop. On the way back they get into an accident, Carson is forced to heal Daniel despite his own wounds and goes hypothermic from overusing his energy. The real problem though is when Jason witnesses Carson using his magic...
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

"Are you sure this is legal?" Carson asked from where he sat wedged between Danny and Jason in their family's truck.

"I think so, does it really matter? We're almost there anyway," Daniel said. The distributer they get new books from for the shop made a mistake with their order so someone had to go pick them up from the facility directly. Sure three people didn't need to go but with their Dad minding the shop they took the chance to leave work for a while.

"Hey let's play some music," Jason suggested, leaning in front of Carson to flip through the channels. He had to go through a few of them before finding one that wasn't country or strange jazz music.

"Oh shit, I haven't heard this song in years," Carson said, recognizing the beat instantly but unable to remember the name.

"Great, as if you two weren't distracting enough," Daniel groaned from behind the wheel. Jason turned it up even louder just to spite him and started partying madly in his small bubble of personal space on the far right side. Carson closed his eyes and started moving his arms around spastically to the music as well.

"Are you drunk or something? Jeez," he commented, trying hard not to laugh. Jason started whooping and clapping.

"Yeah, Carson, get it!" Jason yelled.

"I'm gonna crash the car if this gets any weirder," Daniel said, finally just lowering the volume himself. "Oh it's that building right there." Daniel made a hard left into the parking lot, "See? I almost missed it because of you two."

After they parked Carson slumped down in his seat to wait for them. He didn't really have any interest in seeing the inside of a distribution center. To his surprise it didn't take long at all before Danny and Jason came out carrying two large boxes each.

"Anything interesting in there?" Carson asked, scooting over so that he could stick his head out the window while they loaded up the back.

"Just some new releases and other books we needed to restock. Nothing you'd like," Danny explained. Carson noticed how he carefully avoided mentioning that the only books Carson was interested in were the ones on magic. While his family had noticed their shared obsession for magic they still thought that was all it was, an obsession, or a hobby.

"Ah shit it looks like it's gonna rain. Make sure that's watertight," he told Jason then walked around the truck to climb back in the driver's side. The step up you had to make to get in was significantly higher than in a regular car but of course Daniel, and the rest of his tall family, had no problem doing it.

Carson moved back into the middle seat and moments later Jason slid in the other side. Danny glanced at the clock on the dash and sighed knowing they were already late and would have to hustle to get back. But the weather had other plans.

They went back to listening to music and slowly the light drizzle turned into heavy rain, falling down in dense sheets.

"If I had known the weather would get this bad I would have let Sylvia Plath and J.K. Rowling wait until tomorrow." Daniel said. He had his eyes peeled on the road, struggling to see clearly. Blurry or not he could still see when the light changed from green to yellow and he hit the brakes in preparation to stop. Which they did. But by the time Daniel had gotten enough traction to come to a complete stop they had drifted into the middle of the intersection.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he cursed, trying to hit the gas so they could at least get out of the way. Carson tensed, feeling particularly vulnerable stopped where they were. With Daniel still focused on putting the car in motion Carson was the first to see the large truck coming towards them carrying construction equipment.

He held his arms up to protect his face instinctively and closed his eyes. The rest is a bit of a blur.

The truck was slowing down when they collided, so it could have been a lot worse, but the impact was enough to send the car spinning into a roll. Carson was vaguely aware of the world moving violently around him until it suddenly stopped.

An unknown amount of time passed between when the car stopped rolling and when Carson blinked open his eyes wearily, trying to make sense of what he was looking at and why his head felt so strange. Eventually he realized he was hanging upside down, held up only by his seatbelt. And the sparkles in front of him were actually shards of broken windshield.

He managed to click his seatbelt off and toppled over, choosing to ignore the crunching sound the glass made when he landed on it. He crawled through the opening and then looked back at the car. From outside he could actually see the banged up cab and the other two passengers inside.

His head was a little foggy but once he saw the small trails of blood dripping from each of the men he sobered up instantly. Jason's door looked easier to open so he crawled around to that side first. With a few pulls the door came free of its bent frame and he was able to reach in and undo Jason's seatbelt, careful not to let him fall in the process like he did. It wasn't graceful but Carson got Jason's limp body out and onto the grass next to the road. He didn't look too badly hurt, probably just got knocked out from the force of the impact and his other cuts were superficial. Satisfied that he wasn't about to die, Carson made his way to the other side of the truck.

It looked a lot worse, and from what Carson could remember, the driver's side was hit first receiving most of the impact. Daniel was still secure in his seat but the side was dented inward and the door was bent to shit, he wouldn't be able to open it himself. Glancing over at Jason one more time he took a deep breath and used his magic to forcibly rip the door from the car. The act left him exhausted and he had to stop for a minute to catch his breath again.

When he looked inside though he stopped breathing entirely. Carson's chest grew tight with fear and for a second he thought it might send him over the edge, making him sick to his stomach. But knowing it was a hell of a lot easier to heal someone than revive them, Carson had to stuff those feelings away and act quickly.

A pole maybe 2 inches in diameter had broken off, leaving one end lodged in Daniel's side. The area around it was already wet with bright red blood and more pumped out of the wound as he watched. Careful not to injure him further Carson did the same thing he did for Jason and managed to pull him out through the side of the truck. He dragged him under the arms into the grass maybe ten feet away from where he'd left Jason who still appeared to be unconscious.

As tired and in pain as Carson was he ignored it for the time being and focused entirely on healing Danny's wounds. If he didn't do something he could easily bleed out before help came. Grabbing his hand, Carson closed him eyes and used his magic to read his energy, pinpointing other more minor injuries. His head seemed alright, he sent a little energy there in case he had a concussion then turned to the real problem. He gripped the piece of metal to pull it out, not even noticing that Jason had woken up at some point.

"What are you doing?! Don't pull it out he'll bleed faster!" Jason yelled as he struggled to sit up.

"Just worry about yourself and call 911, I'll take care of this," Carson instructed.

Jason blinked slowly, clearly confused, but he did start looking around for a phone to call an ambulance.

Carson looked back down, it would take a lot out of him to heal him but if he was smart he should be able to do it and keep enough of his energy for himself. He had no doubt he could repair him fully but Carson hadn't completely forgotten about his own injuries which he suspected included a couple bruised ribs at the very least.

"Repair organ tissue, trigger blood clotting, redirect viable blood back into the body, repair skin..." he mumbled to himself, breaking it down into steps. Once he had a plan he grabbed the pole and pulled it out quickly at the same angle it went in. Blood spurted from the wound at an alarming rate and Carson put both hands over the wound like you would to put pressure on it.

He shut the rest of the world out entirely, using only his magical senses to work, and sure enough, the blood slowly started flowing back into his body and the internal damage began repairing itself.

"The ambulance will be here in 15-," Jason started, coming back around the truck to where Danny and Carson were. He trailed off letting his jaw drop at the sight. For a second he thought he was simply more hurt than he originally thought but the longer he stared the more sure he was that the red spot on Daniel's shirt was getting smaller.

When he got his legs working again Jason stumbled over to them and tried to talk to Carson who didn't appear to hear him.

"What... what are you doing?" He questioned, shaking his shoulder. At first he thought his eyes were closed but when he leaned forward and tilted his head up he saw that they were open but they'd gone completely white.

Jason fell backward in surprise. It couldn't be what he thought it was, it couldn't. If it was magic it wasn't a kind he had ever heard of before. And what he had heard of was always used to hurt people. He sat there helplessly, both afraid and relieved that Daniel might actually be okay.

Carson's arms started to shake with fatigue and a trickle of blood dripped from his nose. He blinked a couple times and the white fog over his eyes cleared away, revealing the light blue irises underneath. Carson collapsed onto his back, breathing heavily. Once his hands were out of the way Jason inched closer and lifted Daniel's shirt carefully. It was still stained with blood but not nearly as much as before and there wasn't so much as a scar where the gaping hole in his side had been just moments ago. It didn't make any sense. That was impossible.

Daniel inhaled sharply, startling Jason, and opened his eyes. "What happened? I feel like hell," he groaned.

Jason couldn't bring himself to answer, still speechless after what he'd just seen. When Danny saw Carson lying on the ground next to him he sprang up and reached out for him but Jason caught his arm.

"Stay away from him, I think he's a magic user," Jason whispered as if magic was some kind of dirty word. He said it out of genuine concern but Danny shrugged him off with aggression anyways.

"I love you brother, but fuck off," he said crawling over so he could lift Carson's upper body up into his arms. Seeing him on the ground like that filled him with both worry and guilt. Is he in this shape because of the crash, or because he used too much of himself to heal me? He wondered. Carson was still struggling to breathe a little but at least it was obvious that he was breathing. "Hey Carson, are you okay?" He asked.

"Nnngghh, I'm tired," Carson whined weakly. He was utterly exhausted.

Daniel's hand made contact with his skin as soft fingers wiped away the trickle of blood. His eyes widened in shock, "You're ice cold!”

"It's cold out here," Carson said quietly, coughing between the words. He was right though, Carson was far too cold even in that weather.

Daniel reluctantly directed his attention back to his brother, "Give me your coat." Jason simply pulled his coat around himself tighter in defense. "Now," Daniel's voice took on a tone that his brother had never heard before, it scared him.

"No, I'm cold too." He said, inching even further away.

"Give it to me before I wrestle it off of you. Carson needs it more, he's practically hypothermic."

Jason stared back at him in confusion, "but he's a..." he found himself unable to complete the sentence. Instead he got defensive, "I'm an adult, you can't order me around like this."

"Says the guy who literally made a fart joke this morning. I'm the older brother," Daniel continued, stating the older brother part like it was some kind of law that they both understood.

Carson grabbed at the seam of Daniel's jacket and looked up at him, "Stop fighting." He could barely speak through the chattering of his teeth. Something was wrong with him, he used too much energy. "I'm too cold," Carson said in an attempt to explain the problem.

"I know, hold on," Danny quickly shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around Carson. Then he carefully set him down again so he could chase down Jason. "The coat, now," he repeated. Jason shook his head but Daniel wasn't taking no for an answer. Tackling him to the ground, he managed to forcibly rip the coat off of him.

Meanwhile Carson groaned in discomfort and curled in on himself for warmth until Daniel got back.

"Here, this should help," Daniel came to kneel next to Carson, wrapping him now in all three coats available. He still didn't feel very warm. "Is that any better?"

Though his eyes were closed Danny could tell he was listening. Carson gave the tiniest shake of his head to say that it wasn't. Now that he thought about it, he must be so drained because they're in a rural spot with less energy. The city had lingering magical energy littered all over it from all the people living there. Out here all he could tap into was himself.

"I know you don't like it, but I think you need some... human body heat," Daniel said carefully. To his surprise Carson didn't protest. He did still tense up a little but he allowed Daniel to wrap his arms around him, hugging him close.

Jason sat a safe ten feet away with an unreadable look on his face. He didn't make any effort to hide his own shivering but at least he stopped complaining.

"Help should be here soon," Danny reassured Carson. It was somewhat ironic that they'd call the ambulance for Daniel but now Carson was in the worst shape of all of them. Then again, that's usually how it happened. Someone got hurt, Carson would heal them, then they'd have to deal with the much more manageable issue of Carson becoming about as conscious as a coma patient.

Sharing body heat did seem to help warm Carson up, at least to the point where he stopped shivering and regained some of the color in his cheeks. They were both well aware of Jason staring right at them as they waited.

"What should we do about him?" Daniel asked Carson, looking Jason in the eye as he said it as if to communicate "if you tell mom and dad about this I just might kill you myself".

"Danny, think about this," Jason pleaded. With a sigh, he realized there was no getting through to him, at least not right now. "We can talk about it later. Right after we find a way to tell Dad that the truck is totaled."

Sirens wailed in the distance, slowly getting louder as police and other emergency vehicles drove toward them. It felt a bit like overkill but to be fair the intersection was completely covered in debris from the trucks and the equipment that fell out. Daniel forgot all about the books. They had a bigger problem now, Jason knew what Carson was and he had to convince him somehow to keep his mouth shut.

"Jason," Carson said. He flinched visibly when Carson spoke to him directly, "I'm not dangerous."

"How do I know that for sure?"

"You don't."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone goes to the hospital for their injuries. Carson and Daniel confront Jason about keeping Carson's secret.

When the emergency vehicles arrived they went straight to Carson first. Daniel felt guilty just standing by, touching the spot where he'd been impaled just minutes before. It was a little sore but there wasn't a scratch on him, Jason either besides a sprained wrist. A paramedic jogged over to them, giving them each one of those large, grey, scratchy blankets like you see in the movies. Daniel shrugged his off and draped it around Carson as well, much to the annoyance of the paramedic that insisted he keep it on.

There was a tension in the air between the three of them. Daniel stayed glued to Carson's side but Jason was nowhere to be seen. It wasn't until they loaded Carson into the ambulance and prepared everyone to leave that he appeared again on the other side of the busted up truck.

"I don't need to go to the hospital," Carson said through chattering teeth. "I'll be fine after I get some sleep."

"Sir, please cooperate. It's better if you stay awake right now. Your temperature is still unusually cold at 95.3⁰." The paramedic told him.

\--

They ended up taking them to a different hospital than the one in the city that they usually go to. And thus, there weren't any doctors there familiar with Carson's condition. While it wasn't strictly legal, it wasn't unheard of for hospitals to refuse treatment to magic users. Daniel managed to lie around the unexplained hypothermia as Carson's ribs were wrapped.

"Oh Danny, my baby, are you okay?" Daniel's mom ran over to him, followed by his dad.

"I'm fine, mom, just a little banged up." Daniel told her. It should have been obvious that he was fine seeing as he was standing next to the patient bed and not on it. It hadn't taken long for them to assess him and find that he had no serious injuries. Carson was doing better too, now that he was around more people with more energy he was able to restore his temperature quickly.

"And you, Carson, are you okay?" She turned to him after giving Daniel a hug.

"Fine, just a couple bruised ribs the doctor said it wasn't too bad, just needed to be wrapped for now."

As soon as Ralph was sure they were both okay Daniel's father stepped forward with a hard look on his face, "and the truck... it's totaled?"

Daniel nodded grimly.

"You're sure?"

"I'm sorry, Dad."

"You know I've had that truck since you were in middle school." He wasn't blaming his son, not really. Everyone knew how much he treasured that truck. It was the only vehicle their family even had and buying a new one would make a serious dent in their savings.

"We passed Jason on the way in, he seemed upset, didn't want to talk to anyone. Do you know what's going on with him?" His mom asked. Carson and Daniel exchanged nervous looks.

"He must still be shaken up from the crash," Daniel suggested. Luckily his parents were quick to believe him. Out of the corner of his eye Daniel spotted Jason walk over to them, leaning against the opposite wall. His brown eyes looked even darker than usual and his jaw was set with an emotion he couldn't quite place. He was going to say something, he could tell how bad he wanted to. Before Jason even had the chance to approach them Daniel took action.

"I'm gonna go talk to him. We'll bring back some coffee for everyone," He smiled. When his parents weren't looking he grabbed Jason's good wrist and started pulling him down a quiet hallway away from the ER. They stopped by some windows and Daniel let go of Jason's arm.

"What's wrong with you?" He demanded.

"What's wrong with me? You're the one hiding a god damn magic user. I can't believe you, bringing him to our house, my wedding-"

Without thinking, Daniel did something he hadn't done since they were kids. He raised his hand and slapped him square across the face. Jason fell silent, staring at the floor as his cheek turned red.

"Shut up! You saw what he did. He saved my life tonight and you're over here groveling to yourself. Would you rather I died?" Daniel's voice got louder and louder as he talked, "but no, all you can think about is the magic. You're just like everyone else, believing everything you hear about them without ever thinking for yourself!"

Rage sparked in Jason's eyes and his chest started to heave as adrenaline took over. "He's dangerous. _My_ brother would never trust one of them, he must have you under his control somehow."

Daniel laughed madly, "His control? That's absolutely ridiculous. You've known him for years now, you know it's not like that."

"Do I? Do I know that? Magic users are manipulative, they kill and steal, like criminals. Hell, he's been lying to me the entire time I've known him. If using magic isn't a bad thing then why treat it like a dirty secret in the first place!" Jason yelled, rising to Daniel's volume. There were a few heated seconds where nothing happened but then they lunged at each other at the same time, falling to the ground.

Jason came out on top, gripping his shirt collar as Daniel attempted to punch him in the side. Jason retaliated by punching him in a face and before long they were in an all out brawl. Lost in their own world they didn't even notice when Carson turned the corner, stopping at the end of the hallway. At first he just watched, wrapping his arms around himself in discomfort. All this was happening because of him, because of what he was. And how could he convince himself that Jason was wrong? He has killed people, he has used his magic as a weapon countless times.

The fight didn't stop until they were too tired to continue. Jason's sprained wrist burned all the way up his arm and Daniel's face took enough hits to draw blood. Jason noticed him first, stopping in his tracks.

"Stop it. Both of you," Carson said. Jason quickly scrambled backward, away from Daniel. The anger was still there but he was actually too afraid not to do what Carson said.

"How can I convince you I'm not what you think I am?" Carson asked quietly.

"I don't want you convincing me of anything. Stay out of my head!" Jason barked.

Magicians couldn't even get into people's heads, only Carson had the limited ability as a soul magician to do that. Clearly he'd heard a lot of rumors, government propaganda too. People were the most afraid of danger they couldn't see. Right now he was just a person standing in a hallway, but to Jason he might as well have been holding a gun right to his head.

Daniel climbed to his feet after catching his breath and went to stand next to Carson. "Where are my parents?"

"Signing release forms."

"And what the hell are we going to tell them when they see the state of us?" He gestured towards himself and Jason who was still sitting on the ground looking scared out of his mind and more than a little pissed off.

Carson sighed deeply, "I think it's best if they don't see." He grabbed Daniel's wrist, healing all the surface wounds on his face but leaving any bruises that were covered by his shirt. He still needed to conserve his energy. Jason stared in disbelief as any traces of a fight disappeared from his brother's face, gone almost instantly. Carson took a step toward him, Jason scooted another foot back. "Can you hold him for me?"

Daniel nodded and grabbed Jason before he could run away, "that looks like it hurts," Carson said, eyeing the split skin over his knuckles, "this'll only take a second."

Carson laid his hand over Jason's, closing his eyes so he could read his energy before healing him. Jason didn't try to move away, he didn't even flinch. No, he just stayed completely still as Carson used his magic on him which was somehow so much worse than fighting back.

Jason was expecting pain but when Carson's skin made contact with his, he was filled with what might have been the best feeling he's ever experienced in his life. All aches and pains melted away. Even his fear and anger felt dulled under it's warmth. He closed his eyes, sagging against the floor as Carson's life energy swirled around his body, healing every little cut and bruise. Just to score some points with him Carson went as far as to heal his wrist too.

"That wasn't so bad was it?" Carson asked after he finished.

Jason blinked his eyes open slowly, staring aimlessly at the ceiling above them. "What... what was that?"

"I don't have time to explain everything to you now, but I'm a type of magician you've never heard of. A soul magician. I work with a different kind of energy than most... "magic users". I move life energy between living things in order to heal them, sometimes even resurrect them." Carson explained. Talking so much right after healing him left him a little breathless but he continued anyway, "what you felt just now was a tiny thread of my own soul."

Jason still looked skeptical but he'd calmed down considerably. What Carson didn't dare to mention was that the exchange could go both ways. Just as easily as he could heal him, he could also kill him by removing all the life from his body. It only takes about 3 seconds and doesn't leave a trace. So when you think about it, Carson is even more dangerous than the other magicians. But he did use his magic almost exclusively for healing so that part wasn't a total lie.

Jason got to his feet and patted himself down, amazed at how great he felt. No bruises, no pain, it was all gone just like that.

Carson however wasn't feeling as great. Blood roared in his ears as he stood and his body felt unusually heavy. He was forced to take a small step back to regain his balance but it did little to ease the disorienting pull he felt, luring him closer to the ground.

Daniel quickly grabbed his elbow to steady him, seeing him waver on his feet.

"Are you okay?" He asked several times until Carson seemed to hear him.

"Hmm? Yeah fine, just tired. Let's go home now," he said. Carson sniffled and an odd metallic taste filled his mouth.

"Um, Carson? Your nose is bleeding again."

"Shit, really?" He cursed, bringing a hand up to his face to catch the blood. It wasn't too severe, probably just a side effect of exhausting himself too much. Daniel pulled a packet of tissues out of his coat pocket and put it in his hand.

"Here, I'll go call a cab."

Quickly wadding up a couple tissues to hold to his face, Carson realized that Daniel probably carried tissues around just for this reason. He wasn't sure whether or not that should make him happy. Jason was staring at him again.

"I guess... I guess I shouldn't have been so harsh at first," Jason piped up.

Suppressing the urge to act like a petty bitch the second Jason seemed ready to concede, Carson took a deep breath and told him it was fine. Deep down he couldn't really blame him for being afraid. 

If so much of that fear came from how he was raised then why wasn't Daniel the same way? Maybe it was just a difference in personality. Daniel was overly curious and dangerously fearless. "Oh you wanna try lighting this on fire? Go ahead, I'll hold it for you." Carson laughed to himself at the thought. 

“What’s so funny?” Jason asked.

Carson looked down the hallway to where Daniel was on the phone trying to get them a ride, “Nothing.”


End file.
